Source: Epilepsia  |  Posted 9 years ago

Iron insufficiency may play a role in the development of first febrile seizures in children.

Researchers found that plasma ferritin levels were lower in children with a first febrile seizure than in children who had febrile illnesses without convulsions.

Led by Azhar D. Daoud, MD, from the department of pediatrics, Jordan University of Science and Technology, in Irbid, Jordan, the researchers measured haemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and plasma ferritin in 150 children.

Half of the children in the study had experienced a first febrile seizure, the other half had febrile illnesses without convulsions and were matched to the first group with respect to age and sex.

In the children with febrile seizures, mean ferritin levels were significantly lower than those without febrile convulsions. Also, the proportion of patients with a plasma ferritin level of 30